The Mamallapuram All-Women Police on Tuesday arrested two youth under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for raping two minors after befriending them on social media.

The police said the girls’ mother lived in Red Hills and was estranged from her husband. The girls, aged 13 and 14, were in Class 9 and 10 respectively, and also lived separately from their mother at their grandmother’s house in Guduvanchery.

Two different youth befriended the sisters on social media and frequently interacted with them. One of them was identified as Dinesh, 25, of Murugamangalam near Kattankulathur, who was an autorickshaw driver, and the other Dinesh, 22, of Karanai Puducherry near Urapakkam, who worked as an air conditioner mechanic. They proposed to marry them and took them to a building in Kayar, where they raped them. One of the girls became pregnant.

Later, the girls told their grandmother about the crime, and a police complaint was lodged. The Mamallapuram All-Women Police registered a case under the provisions of the POCSO Act and investigated. Both accused were arrested and remanded in judicial custody.